BSOD (STOP 0x0000008E) on XP install

[speedwell]

just been given a rack mount server and am having problems installing XP professional.

every time i do it i get a STOP 0x0000008E BSOD close to the end of the process (in the last stage - 'finalising' ).

from searching around this looks like a RAM error. i've tried switching in and out sticks (4 x 256MByte) in different combos, erasing the partition and reinstalling.. many (many, many, many ) times but get the same result.

a colleague recently installed xp on 9 identical (as far as i know) machines (from the same failed company) and had no problems at all.

i tried to update the bios but i get a message saying "does not support flash memory" when i try to do it.

hardware is dual PIII 600, 1GB RAM, SCSI HD, IDE CD-ROM.

bios info is:
BIOS Date: 10/13/00
BIOS Type: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 licensed to Intel
BIOS ID: 4S4EB2X0.10A.0036.P12.0010130828

any ideas?

thanks in advance

 

[Demonicon]

Here ya go!

 

[speedwell]

yeah, i saw that but it's unlikely that all the RAM chips are broken isn't it ? - i've tried installations with each stick on it's own - and i think it's compatible ram - the other machines are identical.

i guess it's possible all 4 of the sticks are faulty

 

[Abzstrak]

Y R U installing XP on a server?

BIOS settings bad? BIOS out of date?

 

[Demonicon]

Not really likely that all four sticks are bad. Check your motherboard manufacturer to see if the memory is compatible.

With only 1 memory module installed will the system boot if you put the module in a different memory bank? If it does try that.

Also, remove everything from the system except video, 1 memory stick, hard drive and cd-rom and try installing.

 

[speedwell]

Abzstrak:

i'm installing XP since it's the only OS I have - is it a bad idea ? i could probably get 2K pro - would that be better ?

i tried to flash the bios with the latest version from the intel site but i get a message saying "this memory cannot be be flashed"..

i'm going to see if there is a jumper setting that inhibits flashing the memory that i can change but i'm not hopeful.

 

[speedwell]

Demonicon:

i'll try the memory in different banks - i've just been trying the first slot so far - maybe slot0 is broken ??

the only evidence i have that the RAM is compatible is that the other machines are identical and XP installed perfectly the first time.

i'll trying stripping it down some more - it's pretty bare right now anyway - 4MB vid card, hard disk and cd-rom - i guess the only thing i can take out is the network cards.

is it just me or is this the most annoying thing in the world when it just won't work...

 

[Gasman]

Is the Virus warning enabled in your BIOS?
If so, disable so that WinXP can write to the boot sector during setup.
Just a shot in the dark, but I'm using Award bios.

 

[Gasman]

From lostcircuits.com, which I just happened to be reading lately:

Virus Warning (Enabled)

In most cases, the first entry in Advanced BIOS features is Virus Warning which can either be enabled or disabled. When enabled, the BIOS performs a Pre-Operating System Check for viruses that could possibly modify the bootsector of the HDD. If any modification or scheduled modification is encountered, the boot process will come to a halt and the DOS prompt will generate the message Boot sector is about to be modified, do you wish to continue? Y / N.

In principle this BIOS-based virus check is very helpful in that it catches boot sector viruses like the infamous NYB virus, and, therefore, should be enabled under normal operating conditions.

However, the same virus protection will also prevent the installation of an operating system since, necessarily, the data are written to the boot sector. Consequently the virus protection will step in and attempt to crash the new installation of the operating system (like Windows). If a new installation of Windows crashes right after the hard drive check, the virus protection is, in most cases, the culprit.

Bios guide

 

[speedwell]

Gasman:

yep - that was something else i read about too but i checked and it's switched off in my bios

 

[LiLithTecH]

A couple of questions.

What type of Server is it? Compaq, IBM, HP etc. or Motherboard make.
Are using SCSI Raid?
Which HAL did you use when installing WinXP?
What OS was on the System before? Did you Fdisk the MBR?

 

[speedwell]

LiLithTecH:

> What type of Server is it? Compaq, IBM, HP etc. or Motherboard make.

it's a noname brand - nothing obvious on the motherboard to tell me what kind it is apart from the bios information i mentioned.

> Are using SCSI Raid?
no

> Which HAL did you use when installing WinXP?

not sure what a HAL is ? i used the defaults for all the prompts i see - nothing unusual

> What OS was on the System before? Did you Fdisk the MBR?

redhat linux was on there before but i used fdisk (and aefdisk) to blow away the partition tables and then reformated it during the install process with NTFS

 

[LiLithTecH]

I would Clear the Master Boot Record.
Just boot with a bootdisk and type: FDISK /mbr

HAL stands to Hardware Abstraction Layer.

If you are putting WinXP on that server board, chances are that it is not correctly
identifying the Hardware.

When you Install the OS, press F5 when the
"Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration screen" comes on

You then should have the choice of "ACPI Multiprocessor PC"

Then continue on as normal.

 

[speedwell]

LiLithTecH:

many thanks for that piece of advice - it seemed to do the trick.

after pressing f5, the text list box that appears only seemd to have 2 options (something i486 and other) - it was immediately obvious that there were other options there - glad i checked

the final boot into the OS did give me a "i just recovered from a serious error" message but i sat and watched the whole thing and there were no crashes so i'm not sure what that was.

previously it would blue screen and stay there so it was very apparent something had gone wrong.

anyway, i'm going to hammer it for a few days before i move it to my co-loc.

thanks again.